The inventor is engaged in the business of waste mud disposal. When a well is drilled, mud is pumped down the well hole to cool the cutting head and remove the core material which has been cut beneath the cutting head. The used drilling mud having core material suspended therein must be hauled away from the well site for disposal. The used mud having core material suspended therein is pumped into tank trucks to be hauled away. At a disposal location, a front portion of the tank on the tank truck is lifted a few feet and a rear end cap of the tank hinges open from a hinge on the tank top, then the waste mud within the tank will flows out of the tank.
One common problem with this equipment and method of waste mud disposal is that the suspended core material in the waste mud settles on the tank bottom. Then when the mud flows out of the tank a substantial portion of the core material remains as sludge on the tank bottom. Drivers must climb and squeeze into the opened tank to shovel out this muddy sludge. Removal of this muddy sludge is very time consuming. It is also heavy and dirty work. This sludge must be removed when it is extremely cold or extremely hot. Particularly when there is shale in the mud, there is a substantial amount of sludge that will not run out of the tank, and a large amount of shovelling for the driver.